Dougal's Pet Corner The place for your pet stories and pictures, let me have them

How to mentally stimulate your mutt!

Is your dog naughty, hyperactive, destructive or disobedient - or just depressed, laying about and looking sad most of the time? If so, he could be suffering from boredom! Boredom doesn’t seem like a serious complaint in itself; after all, we all suffer from it from time to time, but in dogs it can lead to all sorts of unwanted and antisocial behaviours.  Some dogs (terriers and collies for example) need to be busy. If they are not given enough to do in a pet home they will find other, often destructive, ways to amuse themselves. They may also cope with boredom by attention seeking, barking, constantly licking themselves, pacing or tail chasing. Alternatively they may become depressed and although this doesn’t directly affect you, it’s just not right to let your dog get this way.  All dogs can become bored if they are left alone for long periods during the day. Ideally, they shouldn’t be left alone for longer than 4 hours at a time. If you must leave a dog alone, some of the following ideas may help to break up the time for him.

Dogs are natural scavengers and if allowed to ‘go wild’ a dog would quite happily keep busy all day looking around for food. This is something that comes naturally, so imagine how awful it is for them to only have one meal a day at the same time and same place every day.  Problem solving to find food is a very natural thing for dogs to do and so we can use this in many ways to encourage them to use their brains and keep them happy. It is also why using food as a reward during training is so effective. To keep a dog from being bored and out of trouble in the home, you need to devise all sorts of fun and interesting ways to use his daily food ration.  Why not try the following? Be as imaginative as you can and come up with your own ways to amuse your best friend.   Things to try in the home and garden.  Buy an interactive toy such as a Kong, Havaball or Buster cube. These are all toys that can be filled with food and treats so that your dog has to work to get them out. They either have to lick at the contents, which can be packed in tight, or they have to roll the toys with their nose or feet so that the treats fall out of small holes.  Scatter dry food and treats around your house and garden (make sure any poo is picked up from the garden first). Hide food under cushions or behind easily accessible furniture. This encourages scavenging behaviour. It may take your dog hours to find his food.  Place his food under an upturned bowl, plate or box. Watch him work out how to get to it.   Use a fairly large cardboard box (depending on your dog’s size) and fill it with treats and layers of scrunched up newspaper and blankets. He’ll have a lot of fun digging and pulling out the stuffing to get to the treats.

We have recently taken in two lovely little cats, both under 1 year old who have had completely different lifestyles before they joined us. Pilchard, the first to arrive, was a nice friendly fluffy black girl with lots of character. She had been neutered and came in when her owner’s son developed asthma. She had been well cared for and has already left us to enjoy life with her new family. Blanche, a sweet little white cat, was a stray. She had taken up residence in someone’s garage and had been there for two to three weeks. Not much more than a kitten herself and only half-grown, it was obvious that she had had kittens. She was very anaemic and had mastitis when she arrived. As there was no sign of the kittens where she was found, and she would not have been strong enough to care for them anyway, we believe they probably died. Her blood count was very low but fortunately there were no indications of any viruses (i.e. FIV, FELV etc). Unfortunately the mastitis was large and really nasty and we did think she would need stitches for the wound after it burst. It is now completely healed and she is looking so much better. Blanche is now learning to play and is reaping the benefits of being in a home environment with a lap to sit on when she feels so inclined. She is growing stronger daily with lots of loving care from Sue and plenty of food (including tender morsels of chicken for her tea). After a further visit to the vets to be neutered and vaccinated she is now available for re-homing. We have recently taken in three very nice cats whose owners can no longer keep them. They are: Milly – a lovely tabby girl with beautiful green eyes, 7 years old. Milly is a nice gentle cat that is looking for a comfortable lap to sit on. Toyah – another pretty tabby, although this one is fluffy and 8-9 years old. Toyah has very pretty markings and is a nice quiet girl. Rosie – came in with Toyah, is black and 9-10 years old. Rosie is very affectionate but has lost half her tail, which was damaged in a door at her previous home. Although we received lots of reports of “stray” cats, most of them do have homes. They are just being “catlike” and patrolling their territory, which can be quite large. If a cat looks well fed and generally healthy, it probably has a home. Being curious animals, if they see a cat flap on their “rounds”, they tend to investigate. If they find food, they will return for more. To discourage the cat, please do not feed it, and, if you do not wish it to enter your home, you will need to keep your cat flap closed for a time. We have a regular visitor who is obviously someone’s pet, as although collarless at present, he has had at least three collars since starting to visit. He comes regularly, probably when his owners are out, and after receiving a little fussing, he continues on his rounds. Over the winter months we have kept busy, not only with the cats in care, but also getting ready for fund raising events, sorting and pricing items donated to us to sell to raise money to pay the bills. We are looking forward to seeing all our friends again at fund raising events during the year. Our first stall will be at the “Craft-N-Things” Sale in St Benets Hall, North Walsham, on Thursday 14th April, when we will have lots of new items for sale.  If you are looking for a cat, call Stephanie on 01692 535858. Alternatively you can visit www.northwalshamcats.co.uk for a description of the cats before giving her a call. There are no kittens available at present. In the 1500s, there was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.